Week in and week out the CE press is inundated with propaganda and counter-propaganda from both sides in the format war. Most of this stuff falls under the category of all being fair in love, war and marketing. But sometimes these things go a little too far.
When you get that new speaker set you're going to need to configure and balance your system. The process described below describes AVRs, but both the features and steps you'll take are identical if you're using a "separates" system with a pre-amp/processor and power amp.
Loudspeakers may not be the hardest things in the world to shop for (cars win by a landslide), but the search hasn't gotten any easier in the past few years, as the decline in dealers offering serious demonstration facilities (particularly the big-box, warehouse stores) has reduced the opportunities for an ears-on audition.
Speakers are available in a bewildering variety of styles, sizes, and technologies. On the technical side, the vast majority are conventional box designs using one or more drivers—most commonly a single cone woofer for the bass and midrange, a single dome tweeter for the treble, and a crossover network to divide and route the appropriate frequencies to each. The speaker cabinet, or box, which can be either a sealed or ported design, is not merely a cosmetic touch; it is a key element in the design. Without a properly designed cabinet, even the best conventional woofer would simply flap in its own breeze and produce little or no bass.
Late last week Amazon inadvertently posted and started taking pre-orders on 3rd-gen HD DVD players from Toshiba. The posts were quickly pulled, but obviously the cat was out of the bag. This week Toshiba went ahead and offically announced the trio of third generation players, which will go on sale in September and October.
How's this for a double bill - Vanilla Fudge and Deep Purple at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday night (8/7). Or, to be more specific, the original Vanilla Fudge and Deep Purple Mark 8. Either way, it was a must-do event. Local Long Island boys...
Hot on the heels of the big Led Zeppelin announcement (see my post below) comes word that David Gilmour's imminent DVD, Remember That Night: Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Columbia), will also be available on both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Each of...
